West Indies captain Brian Lara atttibuted the resurgence of his young team to lessons learnt during the recent series against the formidable Australians.

"Australia is a good side and they are the champions. Playing against them has improved the performance of our players. We lost both the Test and one-day series against them but we gained and learned a lot from the matches," he said.

The West Indies won the last Test against Australia, chasing a record target of 418, after losing the first four.

In the seven-match one-day series that followed, the Carribeans won the last three matches before going down 3-4.

Last month, they clinched a 1-0 series win over Sri Lanka after winning the second Test.

"Our team is improving. Unfortunately, we did not do well in the World Cup. We have a good crop of youngsters in the team. It is nice to have young players around you, even if they are inexperienced; they are very talented," he said.

Lara, who arrived in Chennai on Friday morning amid heavy security to launch the MRF National Go-Karting championship along with Sachin Tendulkar and Australia Test captain Steve Waugh on Sunday, said sledging is part of the game and sought to downplay the recent spat involving Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

"Playing for the country has a lot of passion attached to it. At times, ugly scenes take place, but it is part of the game," the star batsman told reporters at the airport.

Lara also expressed happiness with Sir Vivian Richards' stint as chairman of the West Indies selection committee, saying: "Viv had played the game at the highest level. We had a very good relationship so far and he is happy with the side's performance."